More Squeezebox Cabaret

You can now get your fill of accordion-based variety acts on a monthly basis.

We just learned that Le Squeezebox Cabaret, David F. Slone, Esq.'s accordion-based show, will be a regular feature at Public Assembly after its successful run earlier this month.

Accordionists, dancers, strippers, singers, comedians and magicians will congregate the first Money of every Month, starting next month.

Public Assembly [70 N. 6th St. between Wythe and Kent Wythe avenues in Williamsburg, (718) 384-4586], first Monday of the month at 9:30 pm. Tickets $10. For info, visit www.lesqueezebox.com.

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For the love of Miss Peggy Lee

By Meredith Deliso

Watch out — this show will give you fever.

Peggy Lee lives again in a Bay Ridge cabaret that will have men and women impersonating the blonde, smoky-voiced legend.

On April 3, the Scandinavian East Coast Museum hosts a tribute to the incomparable jazz singer, actress and songwriter with a variety of song-and-dance numbers.

“She’ll be turning over in her grave if she saw my replica of her,” said Bob Carlson, 71, who will be donning a blonde wig, dress, sombrero and a beauty mark on his right cheek for a lip-synched rendition of “Mañana.” “I hope I don’t get wrapped up in one of my boas.”

The Bay Ridgite will be accompanied by four female dancers in drag as he dances and interacts with the audience.

“My whole life has been a party, I always like to have fun,” said Carlson. “Peggy Lee had a feel for life, too. She had a terrific sense of humor.”

In addition to songs like “Mañana,” the cabaret will span the length of Lee’s varied career, from her early penned pieces like “What More Can a Woman Do,” recorded by Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespe and Charlie Parker, and hits including “Fever” and “Is That All There Is?” to projects like the soundtrack for Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp” (where she did both voices in “The Siamese Cat Song,” purring and all).

“You can see the breadth of what she did, from Benny Goodman to the 1980s,” said Museum founder Victoria Hofmo, who decided to put the cabaret together after learning Lee was of Scandinavian heritage (plus, who wouldn’t want to put together a Peggy Lee tribute?). “The style changes a lot, but she always has an amazing voice.”

Audience members are also invited to participate in a look-a-like contest, where the winner gets $50. And there may be a few other surprises in store, as well.

“As far as I know, Miss Piggy was fashioned after Peggy Lee,” said Hofmo. “So Miss Piggy might be there, too.”

Peggy Lee tribute at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church [440 Ovington Ave. at Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge, (718) 748-9502], April 3, 3-7 pm. Tickets $35 (includes appetizers, drinks and dessert). Reservations recommended. To sign up for the look-alike contest, call (718) 748-5950.


Photo by Steve Solomonson

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Extremely Hungary

Dracula, 1931

With “Hungarians in Hollywood,” now to October 27 and again on November 23, BAM honors the Hungarian directors, actors, composers, and screenwriters who have made a major impact on American cinema.

The series, which features an incredibly diverse list of films from the last 75 years, includes work by directors Michael Curtiz, Charles Vidor, and George Cukor; producers Adolph Zukor and Alexander and Zoltán Korda; actors Béla Lugosi and Johnny Weissmuller; writers Melchior Lengyel and Lajos Bíró; cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs; and composer Miklós Rózsa.

Upcoming screenings include "Souls at Sea" (tonight), "Passage to Marseille" (October 22), "Paper Moon" (October 26) and "Invisible Agent" (October 27).

All screenings are at BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. Tickets are $11; $8 for seniors (65 and over) and children ages five to 11, and $8 for students. For more, including a complete screening schedule, call 718-636-4100.

“Hungarians in Hollywood” is part of Extremely Hungary, a yearlong festival showcasing contemporary Hungarian visual, performing, and literary arts. Other Brooklyn-based events include Cabaret Magyar, a three-part series of fin-de-siècle cabarets with 21st-century spirit, at Galapagos Art Space. Mark your calendars for the next and last one on November 20.

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Paris comes to the Galapagos

By Meredith Deliso

For the past year, Célia Faussart has been bringing a taste of the City of Lights to the Big Apple with her cabaret, “Paris@Night.”

A native of Paris, the singer, a member of the Grammy-nominated French R&B duo Les Nubians, had the idea for a “Paris Noir” cabaret when she was living in France.

“I grew up listening to the old-time French cabaret artists such as Edith Piaf, Mistinguett, Yves Montand, Josephine Baker. Great story tellers and entertainers, they were participating in the glamour of the ‘City of Lights,’” says Faussart, a native of Paris who now lives in Brooklyn. “I love those classics and I wanted to revisit them along with some of my own materials.”

When she came to New York, she was able to bring the glamour to Brooklyn, with an inaugural show at Solomon’s Porch in her neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant, last fall, that blends jazz, samba, dub, soul, house and hip-hop. Since, she’s also brought the show to (Le) Poisson Rouge, and every first Thursday, it can be found at Zinc Bar in Manhattan. On October 23, the taste of Paris returns to Brooklyn with a show at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO.

“I didn’t know about the venue before they contacted us, but as soon as [I saw it], I fell in love,” says Faussart, who goes by the stage name BlueNefertiti. “It’s perfect for ‘Paris@Night.’”

Indeed, with its club atmosphere – tabled booths that give you a view from every seat and red lighting – the Brooklyn venue is the ideal space for Faussart’s show, as she shares stories and performs originals and renditions of songs by Edith Piaf, Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, Miriam Makeba and Dave Brubeck with her band, comprised of Marie Martin (vocals), Adeline Petricien (vocals), Adam Mason (bass), Ezra Brown (saxophone, keys), John Roggie (keys), and Butter (drums). She’ll also be joined by special guests from the New York City music and poetry scene, as well as friends from Paris, that night.

Moving forward, Faussart has more Paris nights in her future, with her monthly gig at Zinc. She’s also working on a third album with Les Nubians, slated for release early next year, which, like her show, transports the audience.

“For this show, as for Les Nubians, I’m inspired by the past, the present and the future, how to link them to make it timeless,” says Faussart, “and bring the audience somewhere else.”

BlueNefertiti’s “Paris@Night” is October 23 at Galapagos Art Space (16 Main St.). Tickets are $20. For more information, or call 718-222-8500.

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